Friday, October 27, 2017

Review: Action Comics #990

Action Comics #990 came out this week, the fourth part of The Oz Effect storyline and a surprisingly effective issue building up the threat and suspense of Jor-El's plot. I have to admit, much like last issue, the plot doesn't move forward much this issue. But what the plot does is deepen. You see just how strange Jor-El's plan is. This man has absolutely no respect for human life at all, willing to let followers kill themselves with barely a notice. And we get to see just how far Superman will go to preserve human life, to the point of perhaps extending his reach more than he usually does in controlling human events.

When you add those two things up - Jor-El's warped thoughts and Superman's pledge to the never-ending battle - and you get a very good issue.

Writer Dan Jurgens does a very good job here, leaning into some popular Superman tropes as he moves closer and closer to faceoff with his presumed father. And he doesn't make Jor-El completely evil. The ends here are noble. The means are horrible. The specter of Dr. Mahattan is there in the background. But, like some commenters here, I am getting somewhat tired with Jon being used as a pawn in villain's plots. I would have loved for Jon to simply reject Jor-El's beliefs.

The art is done by Viktor Bogdanovic and he truly shines here. There is a very polished look to this book and Superman looks completely iconic.

How will this all end? I am eager to find out.

We open up with Superman in the civil war torn nation of Logamba. We have been spending a fair amount of time here these last issues as the place could represent the worst of humanity, the right landscape if Jor-El is trying to turn Superman. Last issue we saw the government fire biological weapons at the rebels. Superman stopped them. In retaliation, the rebels fired nerve gas into the capital. Here we Superman stop those. There is no sense to these attacks; they will kill as many innocents as they will combatants.

What I like about this opening is that we hear how the twisting of human nature by Mr. Oz is impacting the rest of the super-hero community. Everyone is busy stomping out fires. I am happy that we hear about Supergirl and New Super-Man as well as the JLA.

And Superman siphoning the nerve gas into space is classic and fantastic.

In a classic move, Superman grabs the leaders of the government and the rebellion and makes them face each other. This self-destructive war has to end.

The rebels are poor and want access to the wealth of the upper class. The upper class are bigoted.

Thankfully, Superman sees the problems with both sides (if only this approach could be used in real life). The rich have to share the wealth and lift up the lower class. The lower class has to know they simply can't take what they want and have to earn it.

Maybe I should send these panels to Congress?

It did remind me of Action Comics #2 where Superman forces to warring leaders to face each other. Neither can remember the impetus for the war. And so war ends.

If only it were that easy!

Meanwhile, Jor-El continues to try to turn Jon to his way of thinking. A place exists on another dimension called Bliss. Perhaps that is a bit on the nose but okay. There, super-powered kids race and have fun and use their powers in the open. There is no need to hide behind 'weak human' identities like Clark Kent.

And Lois would be accepted because her mind is a power itself.

I love that Lois gets some respect here, worthy of living in this version of Super-Town. But this basically belittles Earth.

Jor-El says that the family needs to leave Earth because a major threat is coming, a world killing force that everyone, even the whole Justice League, will be helpless again. This Earth has no future.

Like before, Jor-El is trying to get his family off of a doomed planet. That is a nice little reflection to prior events. But I still hope this isn't *THE* Jor-El.

Back in Logambo, Superman actually takes a major step, perhaps overstepping his authority. He rounds up every single weapon in Logambo on both sides and melts them down. If war will continue, it'll be ugly ... fists and bludgeoning weapons. Of course, it leaves Logambo completely defenseless from outside threats. And this seems to be the sort of fascist Superman people fear in dystopian books. But desperate times??

What do people think?

Certainly Superman rounding up weapons (usually nuclear weapons) is also a well-traveled road.

Back in Metropolis, Steve Lombard is still alive (apparently he only suffered glancing wounds, not chest wounds). And Lois activates Jimmy's watch because Jon is missing.

Traveling back, Superman stumbles upon Oz's followers about to flood the city with poison gas. Included are the masked mercenaries we saw grab Doomsday way back at the beginning of Rebirth. These Oz acolytes are deluded. They feel they are Oz's agents, there to show humanity's true face. They think he will save them for their loyalty. But it is clear, Jor-El doesn't care for these people. They are a means to an end. They add to the chaos.

For some reason, this scene really showed me just how diabolical Jor-El is. He is really going to responsible for the deaths of potentially millions of people just to prove a point. And to think these folks are believing in him, like a savior, while they kill themselves. It is chilling.

Finally, Lois and Superman reunite. It becomes clear that Jor-El/Oz is behind everything that is happening. He is making all this insanity bubble up. It is unclear if he is the real Jor-El but he needs to be stopped.

Then Jor-El shows up with Jon in tow. And, unfortunately, Jon has been swayed. Jor-El has 'helped' them before. He locked up Doomsday and Mxy. He helped Jon fight Zod in the Fortress. And he wants to save the family from this upcoming threat. It is too bad that Jon didn't have more faith in his father. A short conversation with Jor-El was enough to make him doubt everything.

It looks like we will finally get a true confrontation between Jor and Kal. Superman has clearly had it. He has seen the devastation around the planet. And he needs to stop Oz.

So all in all, this issue just enriched the plot so far with some small steps forward. I was very entertained by this and when it was done I wished the next issue was out and already in my hand. That is a good sign.

I hope we get more Jor-El back story. How is he manipulating things? Where has he been all those years? Why now?

3 comments:

Great review Anj, and superb work on those Action Comics #2 panels - knew I'd seen this sort of thing somewhere.

As to how we feel about Superman destroying weapons, well, if he's going to do this in foreign lands, why isn't he destroying all those weapons US folk turn on one another? I am for him stopping immediate conflicts, but as you imply, people have to be able to protect themselves from outside threats.

"There's some good stuff in this issue, but I hate mad murderer Jor-El (why did DC think another crazy El was a good idea?) and Jonathan being going bad subplot. I'm sick of it."

AMEN. One super-speed trip with a conversation about "here's what he's doing" and what grooming is, and we'd avoid all this. But like I've said, we gotta justify killing off Jon sometime, so more "Jon is eeevil" plots for the foreseeable future. Hence, why I'm tapping out until this BS stops & people stop justifying it.